The present application generally relates to devices for cleaning up dirt and soil resulting from boring or digging a hole in the earth, when using an auger or other digging tool such as a clamshell digger. More particularly, the present application relates to a device that may be used to collect and remove the dirt and soil displaced when boring or digging a hole for a post, such as a fence post or post for a deck.
Professional tradesmen, carpenters, and others are often called upon to build fences or decks. Posts are typically positioned at intervals to support the fences or decks. The bottom of the posts are positioned in holes that are bored or dug into the earth, and once the post is positioned within the hole, some of the dirt or soil may be filled in around the post or the post may be set in concrete, as examples.
The holes may be bored into the ground using a power auger. Alternatively, the holes may be bored or dug using handheld tools such as a shovel, spade, hand auger or a clamshell digger, or some combination thereof. Regardless of how the hole is created, the hole is formed by removing dirt and soil (or sand or gravel) from the earth, which becomes piled up around the hole. During the course of boring or digging the holes and positioning posts within the holes, the dirt and soil piled around the holes may also get stepped on and tracked around the yard. Eventually, after the posts are positioned within the holes, the dirt and soil piled up around the posts, and the dirt and soil tracked around the yard needs to be cleaned up and removed.
The process of cleaning and removing the dirt and soil around each post, and the dirt and soil tracked around the yard, may be a time-consuming and tedious process. It may take two workers 20 to 30 minutes per post to properly clean up the area around each post. The cleanup process may involve shoveling the dirt and soil piled up around the posts and moving it into a wheelbarrow or cart where it may be removed from the area. The cleanup process may also entail using a shop vacuum and/or hosing down the grass to return the yard to a pristine condition. A typical fence may have 30 to 50 posts. Therefore, there is a significant amount of time and expense involved in cleaning up the dirt and soil removed from the holes.
As a result of the labor-intensive and time-consuming cleanup process, it would be desirable to provide a device that can be used to more easily collect and remove the dirt and soil displaced from the holes. It would also be desirable to provide a tool that may be used that results in a reduction of time required to clean up the dirt and soil displaced from the holes during the hole forming process.